Audi said its cost-to-income ratio had deteriorated from 52.88 percent to 56.47 percent because of non-recurrent charges for IT development, new retail banking products creation, and network expansion. The bank’s gross interest margin fell from 3.17 percent in 1999 to 2.57 percent in 2000,while return on assets and return on average equity stood at 1 percent and 14.4 percent respectively.

Audi’s Chief Strategist and Advisor to the Chairman, Freddie Baz, declared that most Lebanese banks have suffered from the economic recession, with profits falling on average 18.25 percent. The bank’s results

were consolidated for the first time with Banque Audi France and insurance company Societe Libano-Arabe d’Assurances et de Réassurances. Without this consolidation, profits would have been 13 percent lower than in 1999. — ( Lebanon Invest )